Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1
Last week, Mrs. Jodi told you all about the butterflies that her class made. I wanted to share how we made ours! 
With all of the talk of Spring bringing showers, we thought that it would be a perfect day to get out in the rain  to create our butterflies. The students drew on filters with markers. They then were able to run out in the rain to get their filter wet. They had a BLAST!

our finished product!

 Hoot #2

During this time of study, we read several books from Eric Carle, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This followed along with our theme, but I wanted to also use it to discuss different illustrating techniques that authors use when writing. The students loved this. First, the students grabbed a piece of large yellow construction paper. I put a few large drops of blue paint on their yellow paper. Then, using a brush, the students spread the paint as thin as they could to create a textured green. After it dried, they cut their paper into several circles. They arranged their caterpillar anyway that they wanted. This was a simple idea that turned out super cute!

 



This Week's Holler...
This weeks holler goes our to Mr. Mike, the president of our PTA. This guy is really special to us. His daughter is a teacher at our school.  He has a grandson that attended Walls, and he has a granddaughter who is currently in 3rd grade at Walls. He does more than I could ever possibly list. We are lucky to have him and we know it, but now the whole county knows! Tonight he was named Parent of the Year for DeSoto County Schools!! That's right! For our whole district!! We are the largest county in MS. We couldn't be more proud. Mr. Mike, the Kinder Glitter Girls love you!

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

Spring is here!  It is warming up, flowers are blooming, pollen is covering everything (literally), and baby animals are born & hatching!  There isn't a better time to start our Oviparous animal unit!  We began with hatching chicken eggs.  We set up our incubators, got the eggs from the chicken farmer, and began to learn all about chickens! 

We are officially the proud parents of 6 chicks!!  

We think we have 4 roosters and 2 hens!

The kids are so excited!!

Hoot #2

I decided to try something new this year and purchase live caterpillars from Insect Lore.  The students have loved observing how fast the caterpillars grew throughout the day, and how overnight they formed their chrysalis!  

 

We made butterfly hats to wear.  As I was adding the faces on to the hats, they told me that it needed a proboscis!  

These Rockstars never cease to amaze me at how smart they are! 

We made butterflies out of over sized coffee filters.  We colored them with markers, and then sprayed them with water. 

This Week's Holler...
Testing season is among us, and we know this time of year can be very stressful and exhausting!  This week's holler goes out to all the testing coordinators out there! They have worked so hard to ensure everything runs smoothly so that teachers don't have any added worries.  Our testing coordinator is the best by far!  She is always willing to help in anyway she can, and she takes care of business!  Thank you Toni Glass for all that you do and will do!  Hang in there, there is light at the end of this tunnel.  You are the best!

Two Hoots and a Holler

Hoot #1

We have been all about chicks! 
I hope you are prepared to get an update each week!

Today, we are on day 10. 

This is the calendar that we use for our chicken countdown. Each day we flip the appropriate card over to reveal what the chick looks like inside of the egg.  There is also a description of what is going on inside the egg.  The eggs on the back of the numbers were found on TpT.  Today our chick started forming the hardening of its beak.

Today we also candled the eggs. Candling is putting a light up to the egg. This allow you to look inside of the egg to see if it developing.

As you can see, the students loved doing this! Each egg is numbered. As the group of students candle the egg, they will discuss and make their prediction whether a chick will hatch from that specific egg or not. We are using a recording sheet with eggs numbered 1-24 to record their predictions. The class records their predictions by coloring the egg green if they think it will hatch or coloring it red if they think that it will not hatch.  Once they hatch, we will check to see if their predictions were right. 

Hoot #2

The students had so much fun with this project! We watched a short video that explained the meaning of oviparous. In this video, the students created their animals out of construction paper. After the video we discussed their favorite oviparous animals. They were given their choice of construction paper and asked to create it.  I think they did an awesome job! Finally, they glued them to the back of the egg and fastened the two parts with a brad. Now they can open their egg to reveal their animal to the class.

This Week's Holler...

This weeks holler goes our to Aly at Just A Primary Girl! Have you seen her blog?!? As I was scrolling through Facebook, I came across one of her posts! Y'all, it is wonderful!

I watched a video on her guided reading groups.  She is so organized! One thing that really caught my eye was her magnet return trays that she uses throughout her day! She sells them in her TPT store! Check her out!!

Two Hoots and A Holler: Marching into Spring

Hoot #1
 This post is all about March! We have been having a blast during our "March Madness." Now, "March Madness" may mean something different to you.  To us, this is the time when we realize that we have about 40 days of school left, and we want to make sure that we fit everything in before the last school bell rings for the year! This second wind usually hits us the week that we return from Spring Break. I know that we can't be the only ones that feel that way, right?!?!?!

 How cute is this?!?! This is one of our writings that we did in class.  Each child picked someone in their life that was worth more than gold to them.  This child wrote, "Mason because he tells jokes."  One of the reasons I love this age is simply because of their heart. This group truly loves each other.

 One of the math activities that we did this week is our butterfly roll. The students roll the die and write the number beside the specified roll. Then they choose a wing to write the different ways to show that number. In this case the child wrote the numeral, number word, drew dots and tally marks. If the students roll a her

Hoot #2

Spring has sprung!  We are learning all about weather and spring.  Our kiddos have loved learning all about the different types of weather.  We read Little Cloud by Eric Carle and It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw.  After reading these books and some non-fiction texts about clouds, we did some crafts.  We had a great time doing these!  Take a look...

  

Here are some of my favorites from our activity with  
It Looked Like Spilt Milk...

a butterfly

a koala

a volcano

a crab

a light bulb

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Debbi Watson at the 3rd Grade Pad. We spent a lot of time going through her "Monday Made It" posts.  Oh my!! Debbi is seriously busy and has so many ideas! There are so many ideas to decorate your entire classroom.  There are even more ideas for task cards of every subject and great storage ideas! Be sure to check her out! We have already told all of our 3rd grade friends about her!!